Pride and Prejudice at Hogwarts
by Lilith-abi
Summary: A Pride and Prejudice/Harry Potter crossover, of a sort. Slightly muddled plot of P&P, set at Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1

As Elizabeth Bennet sat down at the Hufflepuff table, next to her friend Charlotte and sister Jane, she pulled the letter she had just received at the Gryffindor table out of her pocket. She broke the seal, scanned the letter and laughed.

'Hey, Jane, yesterday I sent Mum a message saying about the Triwizard Tournament being hosted at Hogwarts and the other schools coming here, what an honour and excitement it was, etc. and do you know what she sent back? 'Ooh, that's great; you'll meet some nice boys!'

Jane and Charlotte laughed.

'Really? I guess I should have expected that, but I thought she'd be a bit more excited about the tournament.' said Jane. She still hadn't finished her breakfast, so Charlotte and Lizzie had come and sat next to her. Due to their being split into different houses, Lizzie into Gryffindor, Charlotte into Slytherin and Jane into Gryffindor, they usually sat on Jane's table in the middle. They'd been friends for too long to split up just because of their houses.

Charlotte had lived near to the Bennet family all her life, and could joke around about the sister's mother like her own. She knew how obsessed Mrs. Bennet was about getting her daughters married. With Lizzie in her sixth year and Jane in her seventh, both without boyfriends at the moment, their mother felt like they were doomed to a fiery pit of eternal spinsterhood.

Charlotte's mother wasn't too bad, really, but she'd definitely been corrupted by Mrs. Bennet.

Jane finished her breakfast and they headed off to their first lessons, nearly running into a pair of ginger twins- the Gryffindor beaters- discussing how to get into the competition and something about growth potions. Reminded of their previous topic, Lizzie asked, 'So, who do you reckon the Hogwarts champion will be?'

'I'm not sure,' said Jane, 'most of the 'Puffs want it to be Cedric Diggory.'

'Yeah, I can see why. Prefect, Headboy, Quidditch Captain, what about the Slytherins?'

'Y'know, the average knuckle-headed bully.' replied Charlotte.

Jane and Lizzie nodded. Neither of them agreed with the bias against Slytherins as a whole, like some people in their houses, but there were some idiots in there.

'What about Gryffindor?'

'Merlin, we're the house of bravery and daring, the whole house is itching to have a go, even me. Too young, though. I expected the Wonderkid Harry Potter to be a favourite, but he's too young. Knowing his luck, he'll still be picked, poor kid. I'm backing Angelina.'

'Johnson? The team captain?'

'Yep. She's pissed that there's no Quidditch though. She's nearly as bad as the last captain. Remember when he didn't think that the Chamber of Secrets opening and a giant snake attacking people was a good enough reason to stop Quidditch?'

o0O0o

William Darcy rolled out of bed with a groan, waking up his friend Charles on the other side of the room.

'What time is it?' Bingley asked sleepily.

'Nearly seven, you'd better get up soon.' Darcy said, as he went over to the wardrobe. Despite aiming for the start of term, they'd only arrived late last night. They were meant to arrive two days before so their rooms had been given away and they'd had to share. Bingley's sister, Caroline, had kicked up a fuss about it, and she didn't even have to share. The thought that they were 'insulted' was enough to make her give the landlady hell. Darcy and didn't mind; they were used to it. Darcy got dressed, wondering what would be waiting for them when they arrived at Hogwarts.

Five hours later, Darcy, Bingley and Caroline, Bingley's sister, were sitting in the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore's, office. They'd gone through a lengthy checking process, and were now just waiting to be 'sorted'.

_It was a pain having to start three days after everyone else, thanks Aunt Catherine, at least they were spared the indignity of having to line up with all the first-years, _thought Darcy. Though he didn't really see what this old hat would do. Apparently, it was meant to sing, but had refused to do it anywhere but in the real sorting. Another professor, McGonagall, placed the hat on Bingley's head. They all sat in silence for a few minutes, Darcy and Caroline feeling faintly ridiculous. Eventually, the hat yelled;

'Hufflepuff!'

Caroline snickered at the name, but her brother looked pleased. Darcy thought about what he'd heard about Hufflepuff. He'd always been told that they were useless, but apparently Bingley was one. Maybe it was wrong. He'd check it out. Next to be sorted was Caroline. The hat had barely touched her head before it yelled;

"Slytherin!"

Caroline looked smug at getting into the house that she considered superior, but Darcy thought that she would have been at least a little upset about not being in the same house as her brother. If she was, she definitely didn't show it.

'Fitzwilliam Darcy'

Darcy stepped forward for his turn, ignoring his feeling of apprehension. It was ridiculous. He came from an old, proud, rich, pure-blood family, who shouldn't have been worried about being judged by an old hat.

Resolutely, he sat on the chair whilst McGonagall placed the hat on his head.

'Hmm... let's see, ooh, you're going to be a tricky one, aren't you? Well, well, let's see. Plenty of pride, ambition. Wants what's best. You'd make a good Slytherin.'

Darcy was relieved; that was the house he had wanted to be in. Although... he felt a slight twinge of regret about losing his childish Gryffindor ambitions, before he knew better_. _It was nice when he had imagined himself flying around the school, fighting monsters and winning Quidditch matches. But now he knew better. Shaking off his moment of sentimentality, he began wondering what his years in Slytherin would be like.

'I see...' Darcy nearly jumped. He'd almost forgotten that the hat was watching and hearing his thoughts. 'I wasn't sure at first, but this settles it then, eh?'

_It would be fine, no more weird memories, he was going to be a Slytherin and pass his NEWTS. And Slytherin was the house he'd always wanted to be i-_

'Gryffindor!'

_Wait, what? _As Darcy looked up in astonishment, he didn't even notice Caroline's smug smile drop.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The next day, Lizzie and Charlotte entered their Gryffindor/Slytherin Charms classroom to find most of the girls in a huddle in the corner.

'What's up?' Lizzie asked Hazel, one of her Gryffindor friends.

'There are three new people joining this year! A brother and sister, and another boy. The sister is in Slytherin, the brother's in Hufflepuff and the other guy's in Gryffindor. Rose was sitting next to the sister at breakfast this morning, Carly or Caroline or something. They arrived yesterday, but are starting lessons today!'

'Why are they joining now?' said Lizzie, voicing Charlotte's thoughts. Most English children went to Hogwarts, and if they were home schooled they didn't usually change.

'Dunno, but the sister and other guy have to be in this class!' Lizzie and Charlotte shrugged and walked to their seats. Lessons were about to start.

o0O0o

Caroline wasn't happy. She hadn't wanted to go to Hogwarts anyway, but then Darcy was a Gryffindor? How? She had considered changing her plans, but decided the fortune and heritage made up for the... less desirable traits. He'd looked shocked. Maybe it was a mistake.

Caroline looked down at her timetable, then at Darcy's and Charles'. She had Charms first with Fitzwilliam. Good.

Charles looked down at his timetable, then at Darcy's and Caroline's. Although he had Herbology first, both of the others had Charms. He was glad that they, at least, had somebody they knew in their first lesson.

o0O0o

"Have you heard about the new people?"

Jane smiled, looking around at the assembled student outside the greenhouses. All she could here was people discussing these new pupils. Privately she felt sorry for them, whoever they were. Their every move would be scrutinised by their classmates.

'Hello, class.' Everyone fell silent. The Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff class turned to look at the boy standing next to Professor Sprout that they had heard so much about. Immediately, hopes and theories were dashed. He was quite clearly not an insanely rich foreign sheik, or a 7 foot tall Quidditch champion. Though his money and/or Quidditch skills remained unknown, he looked a normal, if handsome guy with red hair and a nice smile.

Bingley smiled around at his new classmates. They all looked nice. He knew Darcy would have found faults, but he was determined to get along with them. One girl in particular caught his eye. Yes, she was pretty, but she was the only person smiling back at him instead of just staring. He didn't blame them- apparently a new student was incredibly rare.

'Hello', continued the teacher next to him, Sprout. 'Welcome to your seventh year in Herbology. I hope you all had good summers. As you may have noticed, we have a new student. This is Charles Bingley. Into Greenhouse Five, please.'

o0O0o

Darcy groaned silently. Not only was he late to his first class due to a 'helpful' ghost giving him the wrong directions, but Caroline Bingley was following him around like a puppy, praising him and making bitchy remarks about everyone else. He wondered if she knew how obvious she was being. Probably not. Caroline wasn't the subtlest of people. It was going to be a long day, he decided as he pushed the door.

'Hello!' squeaked the tiny professor at the front of the class. 'You must be Mr. Darcy and Miss. Bingley.' Darcy blinked. The guy was tiny. His slight reaction went unnoticed, especially as Caroline drew the attention to herself by actually giggling aloud. Darcy groaned again as several students glared at Caroline. Way to make an entrance.

'Well, take a seat over there and I'll be with you in a moment'. Thankfully, Caroline was silent as she followed him to the back. It didn't last.

'Hi!' she beamed at the girl ext to her insincerely. 'I'm Caroline Bingley'

'Elizabeth Bennet'

Darcy smirked as Caroline waited for a sign of recognition that obviously wasn't coming.

_Bitch_. Every distinguished wizarding family knows the name 'Bingley'. This girl was obviously insignificant, but as she was her only source of information, Caroline hitched up her slipping smile.

'So, what's happening at the moment?' The teacher, obviously a half breed or something, was going around to the members of the class individually. It was the plain girl on the other side of Elizabeth who answered.

'He's going around discussing our OWL results with us. First lesson is basically a free period with Flitwick.'

Caroline nodded, more interested in trying to subtly compare their robes with her own. 'So what _did_ you get on your Charms?' She asked, satisfied that hers were much more expensive.

'An O, I'm Charlotte Lucas, by the way.'

'I see,' said Caroline, disappointed. She had only got an E. 'And you?' she asked Elizabeth.

'Same, an O. How about you... um, sorry, David?'

'William Darcy. O.' He said shortly, before going back to staring out of the window.

Great. I'm stuck with Caroline and random gossiping girls for an hour. Although, unlike Caroline, he had heard the name 'Bennet'. The noble-ish, quite respectable pureblood family had been blessed with one son. As he had been 'homeschooled', no-one outside of the family had known that he was a squib until he had grown up, married a muggle and had five daughters. Darcy was amazed that one of them had managed to get into Hogwarts, having always considered Muggles a dampener to magic. The only reason he knew their story was because his aunt had often pointed them out as a bad example when he was younger.

He looked across. Caroline was still talking to the girls, name dropping like crazy. He resigned himself to a boring lesson

At lunch, Lizzie and Charlotte headed over to the Hufflepuff table, where they'd arranged to meet Jane. She was deep in conversation with an unknown guy, presumably the third new person, so they sat down on the other side of her. The two from Charms, Caroline and Darcy, were sitting on his other side, talking to each other.

Finished describing the Triwizard Cup announcement the previous night, Jane turned to Lizzie and Charlotte.

'Hey! This is Charles Bingley, he's in my house; we met in Herbology.' explained Jane.

'Hello, I'm Charlotte'

'Lizzie'

'How're you enjoying Hogwarts? Were you homeschooled?' said Charlotte.

'It's great! It was my first practical Herbology lesson, and so cool. Oh, this is my sister Caroline and friend Darcy. Well, his name is William, but everyone calls him Darcy.'

Caroline heard her name and looked up. Those annoying girls from Herbology appeared to be following her. Assuming that they had come to find her, Caroline was about to give a polite-but firm- dismissal when she realised that they had sat themselves down next to Charles and that... Jenny? How intolerable. She looked back at Darcy, who had ignored the new arrivals completely, and decided to ignore them. She had more important things to worry about.

Elizabeth checked her watch. "Right, I have to go, but can you meet me in my common room at 7? I'm speaking to Mum.'

'Sure, see you later'

'Cool, see you at 7.'

'Bye Elizabeth, nice meeting you!'


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N. I own nothing. At the moment I'm trying to update every Friday or Saturday, in the theory that by the time I run out of chapters in a few weeks I'll have gotten the motivation to write more.**

Chapter Three

Jane arrived at the Gryffindor common room, wondering how Lizzie was going to talk to their mother. Floo, maybe? But that wouldn't be allowed. Letting herself in, she spotted Lizzie and Charlotte in the corner. Jane know that some Gryffindors weren't particularly happy about Slytherins and Hufflepuffs knowing their passwords, but no-one said anything about it. She walked over to the others.

'Hey guys. So, how's this happening?'

'Hey Jane, it's a good thing you're early. Mum and Dad are having an argument about your beloved.'

'Sorry, but who?'

'The esteemed Mr. Bingley. Mum's planning your wedding. You _did_ want it in a cathedral right? Mum'll be very disappointed if you don't.'

'I met him _today, _Lizzie'

'To stop Lizzie's cryptic-ness, your mum doesn't know that you've even met Charles Bingley, she just knows that a _rich _family with a _handsome _young son has moved into their neighbourhood. And will marry you, as you are the fairest of them all.'

'You know Charlotte, that doesn't really help much.'

'Well, Charlotte helped me to enchant some parchment so that they are duplicates of each other. Whatever we write on one will appear on the other. We're kinda using Mum and Dad as guinea pigs. I mean, I do want to be able to talk to them, but I thought it would be useful for when we're all in different lessons.' Lizzie pulled a piece of parchment from her pocket.

'The down, or in this case up, side is that we sent your Mum and Dad two bits of parchment so if they're arguing they tend to use these. They both say that the arguing gives them headaches, and Mum just goes on about her nerves.' continued Charlotte.

'There really is no reasoning with Mum. He could be a gay serial killer! Not that he is, of course, and you should definitely always gives someone a chance, but not marry them without meeting them. Go on, I might as well see what my wedding is going to be like then.'

'Sorry, it disappears when the next person starts writing. But you can see it from here. We might as well let them know were here, we've told you pretty much everything.'

Writing had appeared on the parchment in Mrs. Bennet's untidy scrawl, wiping out whatever had been there before.

'You are insufferable!'

'Thanks, Mother.' Lizzie wrote quickly, before Mr. Bennet could reply.

'Oh, not you Lizzie. Although it is nice of you to finally arrive! I was talking to your father. A rich, single young man and his family have just moved in nearby! And it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife! Jane Austen said so! Sense and Sensibility!'

'My dear, I believe she wrote that mockingly. And two hundred years ago. Anyway, you still haven't explained how it can it affect us. Why do I have to go visit them? We'll see them soon enough; it's a fairly small village.' Mr. Bennet's writing appeared on the parchment.

`My dear Mr. Bennet, how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of our daughters!'

Jane looked at them quizzically. 'How does he-'

'Oh, Mum started planning your wedding then ordered Dad to visit the new family in the village without explaining who you were engaged to. But he is also being deliberately difficult.' explained Lizzie.

'What? He is fifty years old, and married besides.' Mr. Bennet was determined to wilfully misunderstand his wife.

'No, no, no, you enjoy annoying me!'

'So, how are you doing at school, girls?' asked their father, ignoring his wife.

'Oh, not much, I got Os on Professor Snape's test, and Jane got an E trust him to give a 'summer exam' on the first day back. That's pretty much all that's happened lesson-wise.'

'Ah well, I'm sure young Mr. Bingley will be impressed.'

'How would he know!?' Their mother had rejoined the conversation. 'He will never meet them, or know of their achievements,

'Bing Jr. joined our school today. We already know him.' Wrote Charlotte, ignoring Lizzie and Jane's complaints about the grilling they were about to receive. Their father's reply was scribbled over by Mrs. Bennet's exclamation.

'Why did you not tell me earlier!? Is he handsome!?'

Jane took over the parchment to assure her mother that he was handsome, nice, and looked to have no intention of sweeping either of her daughters off of their feet into marriage. Their mother certainly had a one track mind.

Pleading homework, they signed off, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Bennet to their argument.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The weeks went past, and eventually the new students were nearly forgotten in the excitement. The two schools, Bauxbatons and Durmstrang had arrived, and one task was already completed. Everything seemed to go back to normal, until:

'A dance!? Like, dress robes and everything!? Oh my wizard god!'

It seemed that Lizzie couldn't go anywhere without hearing people squee-ing over the Yule Ball announced weeks ago. Sure, she was looking forward to it, but some people were getting slightly over-excited. She carried on down the corridor, ignoring the clumps of third years who had yet to realise they were unlikely to go, worrying about Jane. She had received a message (the parchments were proving quite useful for when they were all in different classes) saying that Jane had hurt he ankle on the fifth floor, and needed some help. Jane would have to be in quite a lot of pain to ask for help- she didn't want to 'inconvenience' anyone- so Lizzie had nearly run up from the grounds where she had been walking to see how bad it was.'

_What was Jane even doing up on the fifth floor? _Maybe she was meeting somebody... Lizzie's mind whirled in a way that she felt her mother would have been proud of. _She_ had_ been spending a lot of time with Charles Bingley. _To her imagined mother's dismay, Lizzie decided not to start asking Jane when the wedding would be. She hoped she _was _meeting Bing, as Charlotte and herself had named him. He had followed her around for the past few weeks, and knowing that Jane really liked him, (they had finally got a straight answer out of the unusually deceptive Jane last week) Lizzie wasn't surprised to see Bingley in the classroom. Her heart sank when she saw that both Caroline and Darcy were also in the room. _Great, now I have to be civil._

'Hi.' _There we go, perfectly civil and acceptable, addressed to the room in general. I'm proud of you, Elizabeth. I feel weird congratulating myself._

'Hey Lizzie, it's okay, I think Jane's sprained her ankle. She's just over here.'

Deciding she should never talk/congratulate herself again, Lizzie followed Bingley over to the corner with a feeling of relief; she'd been worrying about Jane hobbling off on her own if there was no-one there.

'Hey Lizzie.' Jane echoed with a smile, fooling nobody. Her ankle was huge, and it was obvious that she was in pain.

'Wow, I'm almost impressed.' said Lizzie, admiring the lump on the end of Jane's leg. 'What did you do?'

'Twisted it on the stairs. Can you help me get to my common room? I'm not in a tower; I can go to my dormitory from there.'

'Sure. Rest a bit more first.'

'Y'know, we could have helped you get to your room. It's no trouble.' said Bingley.

'No, no, it's not that bad, really. I just need someone to lean on a bit. There's no point dragging you all down to the kitchens.' Bingley and Lizzie grimaced. Lean on a bit? There was no way she'd be able to walk on that. And there were definitely faults in Jane's logic, as Bingley was in the same house as her. Seeing Jane's slightly green face, Lizzie decided not to mention it.

'Can you help me get her to the hospital wing instead?' Lizzie tried to whisper so Jane couldn't hear.

'I can still hear you, it's only my ankle that's been affected', said Jane amusedly.

'Hang on a second.' Lizzie rummaged around in her bag. 'Jane isn't very good with pain; she goes a bit faint usually.' she explained to Bingley. 'I had a cold yesterday and I think I've still got a potion in my bag... yep, here it is. Drink all of this.' she commanded, handing Jane a small purple bottle. 'Now we just wait a bit for it to work.

On the other side of the room, Caroline was taking advantage of nearly alone time with her future fiancé.

'Ridiculous. She's only sprained her ankle. We could have helped her, there's no need for her sister to trample across the entire school, I swear, she has the worst manners. I believe she lives in a little country village. Do you not find country manners vulgar Mr. Darcy? And did you see her robes? She must have been outside; they're all muddy and torn.'

'Jane didn't want to inconvenience us.' he said, ignoring most of her monologue.

'Would you want your sister running around in robes like that?'

'Of course not, bu-' _his sister would be judged by others, unlike Elizabeth_ but Caroline steamrollered on.

'I would imagine that this had made you think slightly less of her 'fine eyes'? In light of her other… traits?'

Darcy had regretted letting that opinion slip the moment he said it. He's been falling asleep in divination class, half watching Elizabeth laughing with Colin Forster about the Yule Bale when Caroline interrupted his thoughts with a speech about the class.

'I can guess what you're thinking about.'

'Really.' he had long since discovered this was the safest answer if he hadn't been listening.

'You're thinking how ridiculous it is that we are stuck in classes full of uncivilised imbeciles, when we could be learning this is in the comfort of our own home.'

'I'm sorry, but you are incorrect. My mind was on much happier things than that. I was thinking about how nice to is to look at a pair of beautiful eyes on a pretty girl's face.'

Why in Merlin's name had he said that? It was true, but there was no point in giving Caroline ammunition. It's not as if she needed another attack route.

Caroline had looked around the classroom, probably mentally weighing all the girls up. Apparently satisfied with her conclusion, she batted her eyes at him, looking ridiculous.

'Oh? And who might that lucky girl be?' she asked, smiling.

It might be better to get it out the way, it was better to give her another angle of attack than her think that he was encouraging her 'subtle advances'.

'Elizabeth Bennet.' He had made the right decision; the look on Caroline's face had almost made it worth it.

'Oh, Fitzwilliam, I- what? Eliza Bennet? May I ask when the wedding will happen?'

'This isn't the Regency period, Caroline, I'm allowed to look at a pretty girl without marrying her. Anyway, I merely said she was pretty, not that I had any interest in her.' That had assuaged Caroline's anger slightly, but the fact that he would look at another girl with the shining light of all that is beautiful and perfect in front of him was insufferable. At least that's what it looked like to Darcy. She may have simply been constipated. Ever since she had taken it upon herself to either insult Elizabeth, pay extravagant compliments to him or inquire as to the wedding plans and Darcy's opinion on 'uncivilised country manners'.

The present Caroline nudged him, still waiting for his disapproval.

'No, they are exceptionally bright today.' _Yes. I totally said that to annoy her. It's obviously not because for some unknown reason I can't stop looking at her. At all. Although she does look pretty today. _After noticing her eyes, he had been rather more inclined to look at her in an appraising way, rather than with a critical eye, and had noticed many more attractive things about Elizabeth Bennet, although he had strenuously denied that to Caroline and Charles.

_'She's as beautiful as Marcus Flint is intelligent' _he had said at t

Chapter Four

The weeks went past, and eventually the new students were nearly forgotten in the excitement. The two schools, Bauxbatons and Durmstrang had arrived, and one task was already completed. Everything seemed to go back to normal, until:

'A dance!? Like, dress robes and everything!? Oh my wizard god!'

It seemed that Lizzie couldn't go anywhere without hearing people squee-ing over the Yule Ball announced weeks ago. Sure, she was looking forward to it, but some people were getting slightly over-excited. She carried on down the corridor, ignoring the clumps of third years that had yet to realise they were unlikely to go, worrying about Jane. She had received a message (the parchments were proving quite useful for when they were all in different classes) saying that Jane had hurt he ankle on the fifth floor, and needed some help. Jane would have to be in quite a lot of pain to ask for help- she didn't want to 'inconvenience' anyone- so Lizzie had nearly run up from the grounds where she had been walking to see how bad it was.

_What was Jane even doing up on the fifth floor?_ _Maybe she was meeting somebody..._ Lizzie's mind whirled in a way that she felt her mother would have been proud of. _She _had_ been spending a lot of time with Charles Bingley_. To her imagined mother's dismay, Lizzie decided not to start asking Jane when the wedding would be. She hoped she was meeting Bing, as Charlotte and herself had named him. He had followed her around for the past few weeks, and knowing that Jane really liked him, (they had finally got a straight answer out of the unusually deceptive Jane last week) Lizzie wasn't surprised to see Bingley in the classroom. Her heart sank when she saw that both Caroline and Darcy were also in the room. _Great, now I have to be civil._

'Hi.' _There we go, perfectly civil and acceptable addressed to the room in general. I'm proud of you, Elizabeth. I feel weird congratulating myself._

'Hey Lizzie, it's okay, I think Jane's sprained her ankle. She's just over here.'

Deciding she should never talk/congratulate herself again, Lizzie followed Bingley over to the corner with a feeling of relief; she'd been worrying about Jane hobbling off on her own if there was no-one there.

'Hey Lizzie.' Jane echoed with a smile, fooling nobody. Her ankle was huge, and it was obvious that she was in pain.

'Wow, I'm almost impressed.' said Lizzie, admiring the lump on the end of Jane's leg. 'What did you do?'

'Twisted it on the stairs. Can you help me get to my common room? I'm not in a tower; I can go to my dormitory from there.'

'Sure. Rest a bit more first.'

'Y'know, we could have helped you get to your room. It's no trouble.' said Bingley.

'No, no, it's not that bad, really. I just need someone to lean on a bit. There's no point dragging you all down to the kitchens.' Bingley and Lizzie grimaced. Lean on a bit? There was no way she'd be able to walk on that. And there were definitely faults in Jane's logic, as Bingley was in the same house as her he would be going to the same common room anyway. Seeing Jane's slightly green face, Lizzie realised that Jane wasn't exactly thinking straight.

'Can you help me get her to the hospital wing instead?' Lizzie tried to whisper so Jane couldn't hear.

'I can still hear you, it's only my ankle that's been affected', said Jane amusedly.

'Hang on a second.' Lizzie rummaged around in her bag. 'Jane isn't very good with pain; she goes a bit faint usually.' she explained to Bingley. 'I had a cold yesterday and I think I've still got a potion in my bag... yep, here it is. Drink all of this.' she commanded, handing Jane a small purple bottle. 'Now we just wait a bit for it to work.

On the other side of the room, Caroline was taking advantage of nearly alone time with her future fiancé.

'Absolutely ridiculous. She's only sprained her ankle. We could have helped her, there's no need for her sister to trample across the entire school, I swear, she has the worst manners. I believe she lives in a little country village. Do you not find country manners vulgar Mr. Darcy? And did you see her robes? She must have been outside; they're all muddy and torn.'

'Jane didn't want to inconvenience us.' he said, ignoring most of her monologue.

'Would you want your sister running around in robes like that?'

'Of course not, bu-' his sister would be judged by others, unlike Elizabeth but Caroline steamrollered on.

'I would imagine that this had made you think slightly less of her 'fine eyes'? In light of her other… traits?'

Darcy had regretted letting that opinion slip the moment he said it. He's been falling asleep in divination class, half watching Elizabeth laughing with Colin Forster about the Yule Bale when Caroline interrupted his thoughts with a speech about the class.

'I can guess what you're thinking about.'

'Really.' he had long since discovered this was the safest answer if he hadn't been listening.

'You're thinking how ridiculous it is that we are stuck in classes full of uncivilised imbeciles, when we could be learning this is in the comfort of our own home.'

'I'm sorry, but you are incorrect. My mind was on much happier things than that. I was thinking about how nice to is to look at a pair of beautiful eyes on a pretty girl's face.'

Why in Merlin's name had he said that? It was true, but there was no point in giving Caroline ammunition. It's not as if she needed it.

Caroline had looked around the classroom, probably mentally weighing all the girls up. Apparently satisfied with her conclusion, she batted her eyes at him, looking ridiculous.

'Oh? And who might that lucky girl be?' she asked, smiling.

It might be better to get it out the way, it was better to give her another angle of attack than her think that he was encouraging her 'subtle advances'.

'Elizabeth Bennet.' He had made the right decision; the look on Caroline's face had almost made it worth giving her an attack route.

'Oh, Fitzwilliam, I- what? Eliza Bennet? May I ask when the wedding will happen?'

'This isn't the Regency period, Caroline; I'm allowed to look at a pretty girl without marrying her. Anyway, I merely said she was pretty, not that I had any interest in her.' That had assuaged Caroline's anger slightly, but the fact that he would look at another girl with the shining light of all that is beautiful and perfect in front of him was insufferable. At least that's what it looked like to Darcy. She may have simply been constipated. Ever since she had taken it upon herself to either insult Elizabeth, pay extravagant compliments to him or inquire as to the wedding plans and Darcy's opinion on 'uncivilised country manners'.

The present Caroline nudged him, still waiting for his disapproval.

'No, they are exceptionally bright today.' _Yes. I totally said that to annoy her. It's obviously not because for some unknown reason I can't stop looking at her. At all. Although she does look pretty today. _After noticing her eyes, he had been rather more inclined to look at her in an appraising way, rather than with a critical eye, and had noticed many more attractive things about Elizabeth Bennet, although he had strenuously denied that to Caroline and Charles.

'She's as beautiful as Marcus Flint is intelligent' he had said at the time, which had seemed to amuse Caroline no end, although Bingley had merely huffed at him.

Caroline, now more than slightly pissed off, changed the subject quickly onto the many delights and accomplishments of Georgiana who, as far as Darcy could remember, she had met once, and sycophantically monologued at her the whole time.

Meanwhile, the potion had started to take effect, and a significantly more lucid Jane had allowed Bingley and Lizzie to get her on her feet to go to the hospital wing.

'Thanks for the help, Charles,' said Elizabeth. 'I couldn't have moved her on my own- whoa!'

They were forced to duck as a dark grey shape whizzed into the room, cackling manically and slamming the door. Lizzie recognised the Hogwarts resident poltergeist, a small bundle of ectoplasm and chaos in the shape of a small man. He hadn't been seen since the start of term and his reappearance was disappointing. There were rumours going round that he had eloped with Moaning Myrtle. She hoped it wasn't true for two reasons- one, she really didn't want to think about what that would involve between the two most avoided spirits in Hogwarts (the Bloody Baron came a close third) and two, she really didn't want Myrtle to have anything else to moan about.

'Ooh, ickle students! What are we doing up here then? Getting into trouble, are we?' grinned Peeves, spinning around the room like a miniature tornado.

'Crap,' said Lizzie, before seeing Caroline's outraged face, presumably at being called an 'ickle student'. 'Don't worry, Peeves is only a poltergeist.'

'Only!?' said Peeves, outraged.

'How could they allow that... that thing into the school?' Caroline shuddered.

'Thing!?' insulted, Peeves pointed a finger at the door before swooping out of the window with another cackle.

Bingley tried the handle despite hearing what all the others had. The click as Peeves locked them in.


	5. Chapter 5

'Alohamora!'

Darcy watched as Bingley flopped down on the chair next to Jane. He was nothing if not persistent, trying to unlock the door for the past fifteen minutes. Everyone else had given up pretty quickly; poltergeists had a different type of magic.

'Okay, we can't unlock the door, so how are we going to get out?' We? Caroline hadn't bothered, just sat there and complained. He tried to humour her.

'Can we get a message out some way, or do we have to wait for morning?'

'I've already sent a message to Charlotte, but I know she didn't have her paper on her, so she might not see it for a while.'

'Paper?'

'Just a messaging thing. Plus, there will probably be a class in here in the morning.' Elizabeth replied, getting up to explore the room. It seemed there had been a charms class in here, as there were piles of cushions at the back. She got some out, shoved some desks out of the way and sat down. 'What?' she said, noticing the others watching her, 'we're in here for a long time; we might as well be comfy.' Jane went and sat next to her, but the Darcy, Caroline and Bingley stayed where they were.

'What's up with you?' Asked Jane in a low voice.

'What do you mean?'

'Well, usually you'll talk to anyone about anything, but you don't seem to want to talk to the others.'

'Oh, that. It's a really stupid thing; I actually find it funny now.'

'Lizzie. Tell.'

'It really was nothing. You know how the Gryffindor table is back to back with the Hufflepuff one? Caroline and Darcy were sitting with Charlie, and I was sitting behind them. Charlie and Darcy didn't know I was right there, but I think Caroline might of; she looked at me after. Anyway, they were all talking about the Yule Ball, in particular, you.'

'Me?'

'Yep. Bingley was talking about what a perfect _angel_ you are, and that he's going to ask you.'

'Really?'

'Why, don't you believe me? That's a difference between us. You never expect compliments and I do. Actually, maybe I shouldn't have said that and let him ask you himself. Try and act surprised. Anyway, Bingley said something about how Darcy was being stupid, and there were loads of pretty girls for him to ask. Darcy said- this is an actual quote- 'Never. You know how I much I hate it; unless I know the person really well. (Caroline practically fell off the bench at this point). In such a place as this, it would be insupportable. Caroline has always been asked (another swoon) and there is not another girl in the school whom it would not be a punishment to me to ask.'

'Okay, I get how that could be a bit insulting, but it's not as if he's even talking about you. He's generally expressing his dislike. Which isn't very nice, but it's not too bad.'

'Let me finish! And stop trying to defend him! I don't really mind, but I would like some support. I'm not finished anyway. Bingley said something along the lines of, 'there's a pretty girl behind you, Jane's sister. Why don't you ask her?' And he said...' Lizzie paused for dramatic effect.

'Yes...?'

'She's okay, but not pretty enough for me to ask. Go stare at Jane Bennet.'

'Slightly off topic, is it a bit weird that you've memorised his every word?'

'No.'

'Sure it's not. Again that wasn't very nice, but he didn't know you were there and... fine, it was the wrong thing to do. But I don't think he is bad, just not very tactful.'

'Hey, are you saying I'm not pretty enough?' asked Lizzie jokingly.

'Sorry honey, you're not my type.'

'You would be lucky to have me! Anyway Caroline shrieked with laughter, destroying everyone's eardrums in a 10 metre radius, and declared him quite the cleverest, most perfect person in the universe.'

'Lizzie, you shouldn't lie like that.'

'Fine, she looked pleased. And glared at Adrian Pucey, you know the Slytherin chaser? I think that's the guy she accepted. Just think- she could have been winning the dashing Mr. Darcy's heart had she not prematurely accepted a decent, pretty good Quidditch player! The horror!'

'Be nice.'

'I am! I'm stating truths! 'Oh, Fitzwilliam, how elegantly you hold your utensils, how skilfully you respire, how I long to have the grace to breath as you do'. She _is _fairly obvious.'

'And she's my friend. You can say whatever you want, but she's never been anything but nice to me, and you won't convince me that she is anything other than perfectly amiable. Please don't over exaggerate.'

Lizzie decided to quit when she was ahead. If Jane had started talking like a period drama (Lydia was obsessed with muggle soaps and TV) you know that you've pushed her far enough.

On the other side of the room, Jane's amiable friend was putting up a not very pleasant fight.

You know, you could at least try to be civil.' said Bingley.

'What! Fitzwilliam and I have been the models of amiability.'

'I was actually only talking to you, but seeing as though you've involved Darcy I can tell you both that I really like Jane. You two have talked amongst yourselves the whole time she's been here, and you've completely ignored Elizabeth.'

'Well I wouldn't say both of us have been completely oblivious to Eliza' she smiled slyly at Darcy. If she could get Charles on his back too he'd probably forget about Elizabeth's invisible good qualities.

'Really?' Bingley blinked at Darcy. 'We need to talk about this later. At the moment could you just try your best to be... nice? Anything really, on the positive spectrum.'

'Are you really that serious about her Bingley? She has very… undesirable connections.'

'What do you mean?'

'Her father is a moderately rich squib, but nowhere near our social circles- don't look at me like that, you know it is important for our families- her mother and younger sisters are muggles.'

'But-'

'I know you don't care about blood status, and neither do I, but it IS important for both your family's acceptance of whoever you date and eventually marry, and your future happiness.'

'Jeez Darce, I only said I liked her, not that I wanted to marry her! I've only known her for a few weeks!'

'My point still stands for the future. Besides, I thought she was the most perfect person you had ever met?'

'She is, and for that reason I would like you to be civil.'

'Fine.'

'Of course, Charles' Caroline trilled, annoyed at being excluded from the conversation, but pleased that Fitzwilliam seemed to find Elizabeth unsuitable and, by extent, herself perfect for his future happiness.

As if to prove her point to Charles, she went across to Jane and Elizabeth. Surely charity to the unfortunate was a quality Fitzwilliam had to approve of.

'How are you feeling Jane?'

'Much better, thanks Caroline. I've had a painkiller' Jane smiled at her then looked at Lizzie as if to say, 'see? I told you she is a good friend'.

'Painkiller?'

'Oh, it's a muggle thing, it stops someone from feeling pain for a while, but Lizzie had some potion of it.'

'I feel so bad for you- I hate hurting my ankle. Have you sprained it before? Usually they take the same amount of time to heal.'

'No, I'm afraid that my lack of strenuous exercise has not left me with many ankle damaging experiences.'

'Ha, I'm glad to hear it. What did you think of History of Magic the other day? Is Professor Binns always like that?'

As Jane and Caroline entered into conversation, Lizzie watched, surprised. She tended to tune out slightly when Caroline talked, but she was genuinely being nice. Maybe it was only when she was around Darcy that she was like that. Although Lizzie was of the opinion that Darcy was proud and unpleasant, he did have his own share of fan girls, though less than he did before Viktor Krum came along. If he had a fan club, Caroline would've been chairman and founder if that wasn't beneath her. _Still, maybe I judged her too quickly. She seems like a nice enough person. _


End file.
